Tennessee

Stay or go? Why families of trans kids face an uncertain future in Tennessee – National | Globalnews.ca

Published

2 years ago

May 13, 2023

Stay or go? Why families of trans kids face an uncertain future in Tennessee – National | Globalnews.ca

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Parents of transgender children in Tennessee worry they may have to move their families out of the state because of a recently passed ban on gender-affirming care for minors and policies that target transgender people.

“Do we stay here?” asked the mother of a transgender child in Nashville. “It does feel like a risk, and it feels like there is not really a right answer at this point.”

Global News is concealing the mother’s identity because of the risk of harassment and future legal repercussions under Tennessee law.

“I am fearful of being targeted, my kids being targeted, or being determined to be an incompetent or coercive parent,” she explained.

Those fears are well-founded in Tennessee, which has led the anti-transgender movement in the United States.

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The Republican majority in the state legislature made a ban on gender-affirming care the top priority of the current session. The law, known as S.B. 1, signed by Republican Governor Bill Lee, also requires that transgender minors end hormone therapies and detransition by March 2024.

“We needed to have more data on this,” explained State Senator Richard Briggs, a Republican who supported S.B. 1. “I thought we needed to put a halt to it.”

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Online hate speech continues against 2SLGBTQIA+

Transgender minors and their families in the state now face a very uncertain future.

The mother who spoke with Global News explained that her five-year-old, who was assigned male birth, began to identify as a girl at age four.

“We started noticing a pattern of language of correcting us to say things like ‘no, I’m a sister, not a brother.’”

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After consulting with pediatricians, a pediatric developmental psychologist and a therapist, the family decided to validate their child’s expressed gender.

“Our biggest concern was, how do we know at what age it’s developmentally appropriate?” the mother explained. “It just means we use female pronouns and call her our daughter, and she’ll correct people that say otherwise.”

The family treats their daughter’s gender with an open mind: “She seems very comfortable in who she is.”

They speak about the possibility that their child may one day wish to medically transition as an “if.”

“We don’t want to box her in and say this is definitely what’s going to happen when she’s a teenager,” her mother explained.

Click to play video: 'Pronouns a first step to respecting gender identity, inclusivity'

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Pronouns a first step to respecting gender identity, inclusivity

Tennessee has effectively made the decision for her.

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The girl will have no options for gender-affirming care in the state until she turns 18.

“At that point, an adult can decide what treatment they want,” Senator Briggs said.

But many transgender youth begin medical care, such as hormone treatments, before they reach puberty, so they grow into adulthood according to their gender identity.

To access gender-affirming medical care as a teenager, the girl and her family would have to leave the state.

By the time she turns 18, there’s a risk that Tennessee will have enacted laws targeting transgender care for adults.

“They don’t care about folks waiting until 18. They just want to ban the care, period,” said Dahron Johnson, a transgender woman and community activist in Nashville.

Click to play video: 'Transgender Day of Visibility'

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Transgender Day of Visibility

Johnson points to legislation advanced by state Republicans that would ban private companies from winning contracts with Tennessee’s Medicaid program, if they provide gender-transitioning care to people of any age, anywhere in the U.S.

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“How can one not be but existentially terrified, uncertain of what each day could potentially hold,” she said. “My existence might be further criminalized at any given moment.”

The U.S. Department of Justice is equally concerned, and argues transgender health care for minors is both “medically necessary” and “recommended by major medical associations.”

In April, the D.O.J. sued the state of Tennessee, arguing the transgender care ban is discriminatory and violates the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

Unless the courts intervene, Tennessee’s transgender care ban will take effect July 1.

Yet uncertainty has not given way to desperation.

Both Johnson and the mother of the young transgender girl say they plan to remain in Nashville so long as it’s safe.

“Somebody has to be able to stay and demonstrate the total normalness of our lives,” Johnson said.

“The most interesting thing about my daughter is not that her gender identity doesn’t match the gender assigned her birth,” explained the girl’s mother, adding she’s “incredibly proud” of her child.

“We want our kids to live happy and fruitful and long and meaningful lives just like any other parent wants for their kid.”

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Click to play video: 'Trans author’s new book ‘This One Looks Like a Boy’'

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Trans author’s new book ‘This One Looks Like a Boy’

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Tennessee

Titans RB Out vs. Texans

Published

1 hour ago

November 22, 2024

Press Room

The Tennessee Titans are finishing up their practice runs before facing the Houston Texans in Week 12, but there is a key player on the offense who won’t be making the trip to the Lone Star State.

According to team reporter Jim Wyatt, running back Tyjae Spears has been ruled out for the team’s game against the Texans as he has yet to clear the league’s concussion protocol.

Spears, a second-year pro out of Tulane, has been bit many times by the injury bug this season. The Week 12 contest will mark Spears’ fourth game missed this season.

So far this season, Spears has ran the ball 43 times for 161 yards and a touchdown.

With Spears out, starting running back Tony Pollard will continue to have a bulk of the carries while Julius Chestnut and Josh Kelley handle backup duties.

Also out for the Titans is offensive tackle Leroy Watson IV. Linebacker Jack Gibbens and cornerback L’Jarius Sneed are also ruled out on the injury report, but both of them will be placed on injured reserve.

Kickoff between the Titans and Texans is set for 12 noon CT on Sunday inside NRG Stadium.

Make sure you bookmark Tennessee Titans on SI for the latest news, exclusive interviews, film breakdowns and so much more!

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Tennessee must see through Gov. Bill Lee’s new try at expanding school vouchers | Opinion

Published

9 hours ago

November 22, 2024

Press Room

Tennessee must see through Gov. Bill Lee’s new try at expanding school vouchers | Opinion

Vouchers are the school’s choice, not school choice.
Vouchers allow discrimination on special needs kids and any family who doesn’t fit the school’s “values.”

Caleb Hemmer
| Guest columnist

As expected, Gov. Bill Lee and his Republican supermajority in the legislature have filed their latest version of a statewide voucher proposal.

Once again, this new version is jam-packed with all kinds of seemingly nice things tacked on to try and distract people from the fact that this is all a scam designed to defund public education. Lee and his voucher scammers want you to pay attention to the long overdue teacher raises and the newly-dedicated funding source for school construction projects promised in the bill.

But let’s face it − if they were really serious about the proposals, they would have already done them. They wouldn’t have to tie them to a bait-and-switch scheme to designed to undermine public education and make out-of-state billionaire voucher backers happy.

Vouchers aren’t improving student school test scores

Here’s what’s underneath all the pretty packaging. Here’s what Governor Lee is not telling you about his voucher scam:

First of all, Lee wants you believe that he wants to expand vouchers statewide because of the success of the pilot program. However, the pilot program is not a proven success.

In fact, Lee’s own handpicked education commissioner had to admit before the Senate Education Committee this past January that the academic scores of the students in the voucher program, well, in her own words: “aren’t anything to write home about.”

In fact, according to the Department of Education’s annual report on the pilot program, the “exceeded expectations” scores for the state’s participating Education Savings Accounts schools only grew by an average of 0.4% in math and 1.2% in English Language Arts − and far less than the margins of public schools.

So since, the test scores aren’t dramatically improving, the governor wants to direct your attention to how the parents currently enrolled the program are satisfied with it. But again, let’s look at who those parents really are.

Vouchers do not cover the cost of the average private school

The average price of a private school in Nashville is estimated to cost around $12,000. In Memphis, it’s a little under $10,500. So, if you wanted to send to your child to a private school, you’re still going to have to be able pay thousands of additional dollars a year just for tuition.

That doesn’t include transportation or any other needs.

So, the people Lee claims he really wants to help − the working people who are struggling to put food on the table − are still priced out.

For example, according to a 2023 Time magazine article, in Arizona more than 75% of new voucher applicants had never actually attended public school before and not to mention the uncontrolled $1.4 billion hole vouchers caused in Arizona’s budget.

Vouchers leave out the most vulnerable students

Finally, as the governor gives out these “entitlement” payments to families that can already afford it, our public schools get further left behind.

Private schools get to pick their students, meaning that many students are excluded, including the most vulnerable who need the most help.

Vouchers end up excluding most disadvantaged students because they simply aren’t desirable for many private schools. That includes students with disabilities who use Individualized Education Plans, which this bill expressively says private schools don’t have to continue.

Vouchers are the school’s choice, not school choice.

Vouchers allow discrimination on special needs kids and any family who doesn’t fit the school’s “values.”

I would urge people to not be fooled by all of the shiny bells and whistles attached to this new voucher scam bill. Don’t be fooled by the words the governor is saying − take a good, hard look at what he’s not telling you.

Vouchers aren’t good education policy or conservative; it’s just a scam to defund your local school to align to a misguided political ideology.

State Rep. Caleb Hemmer, D-Nashville, represents District 59 (part of Davidson County) in the Tennessee General Assembly.

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Tennessee

Watch: Gretchen Walsh Cracks NCAA Record in 100 Butterfly (Tennessee Invite Day 2 Race Videos)

Published

18 hours ago

November 21, 2024

Press Room

Watch: Gretchen Walsh Cracks NCAA Record in 100 Butterfly (Tennessee Invite Day 2 Race Videos)

2024 Tennessee Invite

The third day of the 2024 Tennessee Invite saw lots of action, with the unique setup of the meet, the A-finals were contested in a 1-on-1 format that brought many fans to their feet and proved to bring an extra layer of excitement to the meet. UVA’s Gretchen Walsh built on that excitement to continue her record-breaking streak, shattering her own American, US Open, and NCAA Record in the 100 butterfly with a time of 47.35.

Even though the day might be over, you can relive all of the action with the race videos below. Courtesy of the University of Virginia.

WOMEN’S 200 MEDLEY RELAY- TIMED FINALS

NCAA Record: 1:31.73, Virginia- 2023
2025 NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 1:36.24
2025 NCAA ‘B’ Cut: 1:36.76

Virginia A- 1:32.58 A
Tennessee A- 1:34.35 A
Virginia B- 1:35.89
Tennessee B- 1:37.94
Kentucky A- 1:39.66
Kentucky B- 1::41.35

Race Video:

MEN’S 200 MEDLEY RELAY- TIMED FINALS

NCAA Record: 1:20.15, Florida- 2024
2025 NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 1:23.62
2025 NCAA ‘B’ Cut: 1:23.90

Tennessee A- 1:21.71 A
Tennessee B- 1:25.31
Kentucky A- 1:26.75
Kentucky B- 1:27.48
Virginia A- DQ
Virginia B- DQ

Race Video:

WOMEN’S 100 FLY – FINALS

~~NCAA Record: 47.42, Gretchen Walsh (UVA) – 2024~~ 47.35, Gretchen Walsh (UVA)- 2024
2025 NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 50.52
2025 NCAA ‘B’ Cut: 53.34
2024 NCAA Cutline: 51.88